A mouthful of mouthfeel

To experience the phenomenon known as mouthfeel, you could try this experiment – perhaps over the festive season. Swig some red wine and swish it around. Rub your tongue against the roof of your mouth. You should experience a drying, ‘puckering’ or ‘roughing’ sensation, known as astringency. Do you enjoy it? It’s often considered a positive part of the flavour of wine and coffee, and an interesting sensation that a lot of people aren’t familiar with.

Astringency is an example of mouthfeel, the least-known component of flavour. Taste and smell are the two most obvious. Many of us know and think little about mouthfeel, which is strange, considering we experience the sensation many times every day. But scientists closely study the role it plays in how our senses perceive flavour. Many home experiments can illustrate the underlying principles, but getting a detailed understanding at times involves bizarre-sounding studies. Their results have shown that sometimes just a few small molecules cause mouthfeel sensations. Mostly, mouthfeel originates from how the main chemical components of food and drink, like protein, fat and sugar, combine. Using these findings can enhance the pleasure we get from food. Focusing on them as we eat and drink can even send us on enjoyable sensory journeys.